Here’s what you probably already know about Molly Ringwald: Back in the ’80s, she was the pretty, pouty face of suburban teen angst, starring in the iconic John Hughes movies Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink. Here’s what you may also know: recently, she’s returned to the topic of teen angst, playing the mother of a teen mom in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager. But there are many things you may not know about the flame-haired former Brat Pack member, and you’ll learn some of them in her new book, Getting the Pretty Back: Friendship, Family, and Finding the Perfect Lipstick. …

Every once in a while, you encounter a character in a work of fiction who feels like such a real person, such a friend, that once you finish the book, you miss having him around. Karim Issar, the protagonist of Teddy Wayne’s captivating debut novel, “Kapitoil,” is such a character. When we first meet Karim, a gifted computer programmer from Doha, Qatar, he is en route to New York City, flying in to help the financial services firm he works for, Schrub Equities, survive the Y2K bug. The year is 1999, and “Kapitoil” reminds us that pre-9/11 New York was not quite as innocent as we may remember it …